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I am sure everyone knows some people who almost never study, but always pass. And they swear they don’t cheat! Is it possible for everyone to do what they do .Of course Are they smarter? Maybe. (They figured out how to pass without studying too much, didn’t they?) How do they do it? Here’s how...

1. Concentrate. It’s impossible to remember what you never knew. Pay attention to what you’re trying to memorize. Pay attention to the details. Don’t overdo it. Study only as much as you feel comfortable studying. When you’re tired, you won’t be able to understand and memorize. You’ll just read a paragraph, not get it, read it again, still not understand it, and you’ll end up giving up and thinking you’re dumb.

2. Don’t cram; understand. Cramming is, by definition, memorizing without understanding fully, commonly done by repeating constantly. The more you understand an issue, the less likely you are to forget it.

3. Relate new data to the things you already know. It is harder to remember a string of unrelated words than it is to remember a sentence. Same goes for other information. It is easier to remember things when they are connected to each other. This way, any one item acts as a trigger for the whole list of connected items.

4. Focus on the big picture. It is easier to learn things if you know how they’re relevant. Imagine having to memorize a load of details and you have no idea how to apply them! It’s like having to figure out a jigsaw puzzle without ever having seen what you’re making, or knowing how big it is. You don’t know what goes where! Now if you know the size and you already have a mental image of what you’re making, you know what fits where and how and the whole process is simpler and quicker.

5. Attend classes. Listen to the teacher/lecturer. This helps your auditory memory. You can also clear any doubts you may have. Most teachers tend to drop hints about what is important and what is not. Pay attention to the areas that the teacher emphasizes.

6. Take notes. (hadith) Somehow, writing notes helps you remember.

7. Find out your learning style. Do you remember best if you see something like text boxes and diagrams? You’re visually oriented. Try to take notes in different colors. Make mind-maps to help you. Spend more time on pictorials. Do you remember better when someone explains things to you, talks you through things? Then you’re probably more the listening type. In this case, you can read aloud, or get a friend to read to you. Or you can make audio tapes/files and listen to yourself. (To find out your learning style, you can take a questionnaire at http://www.learning-styles-online.com)

8. Use as many senses as you possibly can. Visualize, listen, feel, do. This increases the routes of getting to the same bit of information in your mind, and therefore betters your memory.

9. Teaching is learning twice. So teach someone else. Information gets sorted out and more firmly grounded in your mind when you teach another person.

10. Study before you sleep. And sleep for at least four hours after studying. Memories are imprinted and information stored during REM sleep (the time when you dream). So most of everything you study before sleeping is stored directly allowing minimal forgetting. Some may say this is stupid, but it’s actually a good idea to study in bed and fall asleep studying.

The educated man has the right to manipulate the ignorant, if the ignorance of the of the ignorant is due to his own ignorance.